Spent $80 on a good respirator for the old mall in Dayton and it saved me

We were checking out the old Dayton Mall last month, and the dust in the old food court was really bad... like you could see it hanging in the air. I bought a 3M half-face respirator with P100 filters for about eighty bucks before we went in. It felt silly at first, but my buddy who didn't wear one was coughing for two days after, and I was totally fine. Anyone else have a piece of gear they won't explore without now?

3 comments

3 Comments

nancy5244d ago

Oh man, that reminds me of the time I tried to clean out my grandma's old shed without a mask. I thought it was just some light dust, but it was like a century of dirt and who knows what else. I was sneezing black gunk for a week, it was disgusting. Now I keep a cheap pack of those white N95s in my car for any sketchy cleanup jobs. They're not as fancy as your setup, but way better than breathing in history.

parker_park84d ago

Black gunk builds character though, doesn't it? A little historic dust never hurt anyone, it's probably just harmless dirt and maybe some old spiderwebs. Those masks make everything feel so clinical and weird, like you're scared of the past. Breathing it in is part of the full experience, you get to really connect with the job. I'd take the authentic sneezes over looking like a surgeon in a shed any day.

grace_knight704d ago

Ugh, Parker_park8, that "historic dust" is full of mold spores and mouse droppings, trust me. I learned the hard way cleaning out an old basement. Thought I was tough, ended up with a cough that lasted a month. That "character" is just lung irritation. A basic mask isn't being scared, it's being smart. You can still connect with the job without breathing in a bunch of nasty stuff.